As per @NexussI would just leave it as is and "load shift" using the "smart switches" timer to only run the geyser and pool pump from 10am to 14pm.
If there is load shedding, just turn off the geyser & pool pump via home automation (or manually).

I have a 6.4kWp PV array (you have 4.8kWp) and it works a charm, even if the load exceeds the PV, the inverter uses battery.
There is plenty of excess PV that by ~14:00 my battery is has gone from 20% to 100% (~16kWh into the battery).

During load shedding, I use home automation to check the SoC and PV and if required (low SoC and cloudy), turn off the geyser, heater, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.
 

Edited August 12, 20223 yr by system32

There are so many aids available. Even without outomation having weather info like this and remote switching/data one can decide on times to run geyser. The AUX port on the Deye/Sunsynk is just a great feature. No fiddling with anything.

so just an update for anyone browsing. day 3 of having solar installed. my geyser and pool pumps are on cbi astute timers and the geyser is scheduled to come on during mid day and 2pm. this is enough time to heat it up fully through the available pv. pool pump runs either side of the geyser slot. so far( only 2 days with great weather) the geyser stays hot enough for our evening showers and doesnt need reheating. the only geyser use through eskom is at 330am to warm up for our morning showers. geyser is connected to non essential load on inverter. seems to be working well so far.. 

On 2022/08/22 at 11:25 AM, ZCS said:

so just an update for anyone browsing. day 3 of having solar installed. my geyser and pool pumps are on cbi astute timers and the geyser is scheduled to come on during mid day and 2pm. this is enough time to heat it up fully through the available pv. pool pump runs either side of the geyser slot. so far( only 2 days with great weather) the geyser stays hot enough for our evening showers and doesnt need reheating. the only geyser use through eskom is at 330am to warm up for our morning showers. geyser is connected to non essential load on inverter. seems to be working well so far.. 

exactly I have it setup. 
 

Time Slots SunRise 

7:30 - 9:30 

Get batteries going and I priories load first , washing machine, dishWasher go on what ever PV is left charges batteries up 

9:30 -10:30 

Pool Pump goes on 

10:30 -12:30 

Geyser (2kw) goes on reaches 65 degrees 

sidenote batteries are full by 9:30 

12:30 - 14:00 

Export and what ever else Missus uses 

14:00 - 15:00 

Pool Pump again 

then it is the afternoon slide 

Before I went PV solar I installed the Elon 100, PV solar water heating system from Power Optimal. It did not require any changes to be made to my existing 150-liter geyser, only some wiring changes to the element.

Inside the house I have a small controller that lets me define how I want to heat my water either via solar or top up the temperature from Eskom, or via an adjustable schedule depending on the time of day. The controller shows you when the water has reached the temperature set on the geyser thermostat.

In over 6 months I’ve only had to boost the water temperature on around 10 occasions, for the rest of the time the sun and the panels have done the heating for me. Even on moderately cloudy days the water will heat up.

Is it possible to clarify something:   The AUX function?    From what I can gather, it is a function that bypasses the Inverter, and can use the panels to power a Geyser (or 2) ?

I have 4.8kw Panels, Sunsynk 5.5kw Hybrid Inverter and 15kw (3x5) batteries.

I would like to put my Geysers - I have 2 - on a CBI Smartswitch and set the geysers to run (2KW each) once the SOC reaches 100% (circa 10am at current loads)

Am I correct in understanding, by using the AUX, if the load exceeds the 5KW at any time, it defaults to Battery/Grid to take the additional load?  

It is my first month with the system and I recently learnt from this forum how not to charge the Batteries using the grid at night    Hoping for the next step in optimisation

 

 

 

On 2022/08/12 at 8:51 AM, PowerUser said:

Have you tested the AUX functionality and does it work 100% as described? Because I recall @Tariq tied it and it didn't work. Even Sunsynk support couldn't help him.

I have used he auxiliary to heat the geyser for a year with no problems.

On 2022/12/12 at 7:48 AM, Draigman said:

Before I went PV solar I installed the Elon 100, PV solar water heating system from Power Optimal. It did not require any changes to be made to my existing 150-liter geyser, only some wiring changes to the element.

Inside the house I have a small controller that lets me define how I want to heat my water either via solar or top up the temperature from Eskom, or via an adjustable schedule depending on the time of day. The controller shows you when the water has reached the temperature set on the geyser thermostat.

In over 6 months I’ve only had to boost the water temperature on around 10 occasions, for the rest of the time the sun and the panels have done the heating for me. Even on moderately cloudy days the water will heat up.

Hi there, thanks for sharing, I have also just recently added pv. 10 X 550w with an rct 5kva inverter and 2 Hubble am2 batteries. 
 

I also have the Elon system however I have changed my element to a 2kw element and I added a CBI astute smart switch. 
 

im playing around with the CBI switch and Elon timer to get the best possible times I require the water to be heated. early morning and mid/late afternoon. 

I'm getting hot water some days and then not on the other. I called kwikhot, spoke to their Elon guy. He said that I am confusing the timer, and that's the reason I'm getting minimal joy. 

He dis however say that Elon is coming out with a smart water thermostat, which will basically be similar to the geyserwise however it will be via an app. So no control box in ur home. the product will be launched in may. 
 

my question is as follows: should I leave the Elon system to heat my geyser, just add 2 more 545w panels which totals 4x545w

or is my system "good enough" to move my geyser on to it? 

any expert help will be greatly appreciated. 
 

 

8 hours ago, Ayoob said:

Hi there, thanks for sharing, I have also just recently added pv. 10 X 550w with an rct 5kva inverter and 2 Hubble am2 batteries. 
 

I also have the Elon system however I have changed my element to a 2kw element and I added a CBI astute smart switch. 
 

im playing around with the CBI switch and Elon timer to get the best possible times I require the water to be heated. early morning and mid/late afternoon. 

I'm getting hot water some days and then not on the other. I called kwikhot, spoke to their Elon guy. He said that I am confusing the timer, and that's the reason I'm getting minimal joy. 

He dis however say that Elon is coming out with a smart water thermostat, which will basically be similar to the geyserwise however it will be via an app. So no control box in ur home. the product will be launched in may. 
 

my question is as follows: should I leave the Elon system to heat my geyser, just add 2 more 545w panels which totals 4x545w

or is my system "good enough" to move my geyser on to it? 

any expert help will be greatly appreciated. 
 

 

What size and how many panels are connected to the Elon? 

2 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

What size and how many panels are connected to the Elon? 

Currently 2 X 545w ja solar 

2 hours ago, Ayoob said:

Currently 2 X 545w ja solar 

Then the only thing I can mention is to only use the CBI to switch geyser off during the night and switch on about 1.5h before hot water is needed in the morning. During the day the 2 panels should heat up water provided there is sunshine. 

Many variables on other settings which will be based on your load profile. 

On 2022/08/11 at 8:53 AM, ZCS said:

HI @Bobster. thanks for your feedback as always, installing a 5kw sunsynk and 5kwh greenrich up5000 lifepo battery. the pool pump would also be on the non essential side along with the geyser (hope i am getting the terminology correct). Am i correct in assuming that while there is grid power, the system would not trip but just blend eskom and pv when load goes above 5kw? when loadshedding, i will obviously not use the geyser or pool pump. stove is gas so that will not be a problem. What have others done in terms of their geysers? would changing the element be recommended? should i rather just leave the geyser off the inverter completely and let eskom heat up my water? i am obvisouly trying to save as much as possible on eskom costs but with a limited budget, was not able to install a bigger/better inverter/batteries/pv. just looking for ideas to maximize my potential savings.

Hi, the SunsynK inverter has an Aux output which you can use to charge the geyser after the batteries are 100% SOC. Remember to put an earth leakage into the circuit to the geyser. This is useful if the batteries do reach 100% SOC around the middle of the day.

3 hours ago, TonyH said:

Hi, the SunsynK inverter has an Aux output which you can use to charge the geyser after the batteries are 100% SOC. Remember to put an earth leakage into the circuit to the geyser. This is useful if the batteries do reach 100% SOC around the middle of the day.

The question is about a RCT 5kW which cannot export like the Sunsynk you describe via the AUX port. 

5 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

Then the only thing I can mention is to only use the CBI to switch geyser off during the night and switch on about 1.5h before hot water is needed in the morning. During the day the 2 panels should heat up water provided there is sunshine. 

Many variables on other settings which will be based on your load profile. 

So would it be better to leave the geyser off the inverter and let the Elon and CBI control it. Perhaps add 2 additional panels to heat the water faster? 
 

or do I go and change the inverter to a Sunsynk which can export the power?

I'm looking for the most economical way of reducing my usage without breaking the bank. 

 

 

 

31 minutes ago, Ayoob said:

So would it be better to leave the geyser off the inverter and let the Elon and CBI control it. Perhaps add 2 additional panels to heat the water faster? 
 

or do I go and change the inverter to a Sunsynk which can export the power?

I'm looking for the most economical way of reducing my usage without breaking the bank. 

 

 

 

The Sunsynk will be the better one as it has the non essential output and can dump excess PV to the geyser as was explained. It just cost quite a bit more. 

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

The Sunsynk will be the better one as it has the non essential output and can dump excess PV to the geyser as was explained. It just cost quite a bit more. 

Ok, so which 1 to purchase? 
 

go 5kva again and over size with 20% which my current system is doing at the moment, 

or go 8kva now and add additional pv later? 

18 minutes ago, Ayoob said:

Ok, so which 1 to purchase? 
 

go 5kva again and over size with 20% which my current system is doing at the moment, 

or go 8kva now and add additional pv later? 

If you think you might need more than the current 5kVA get the 8kVA and you can use the current panels 5 per MPPT. Use current battery until you need more capacity. 

 

3 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

If you think you might need more than the current 5kVA get the 8kVA and you can use the current panels 5 per MPPT. Use current battery until you need more capacity. 

 

Thanks for all the time and advise. I am currently researching both, sunsynk and deye 5kva hybrid inverters. 

once I make an informed decision I will revert here 👍

8 hours ago, Ayoob said:

Thanks for all the time and advise. I am currently researching both, sunsynk and deye 5kva hybrid inverters. 

once I make an informed decision I will revert here 👍

They are the same inverters, just different firmware on them. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Sc00bs said:

They are the same inverters, just different firmware on them. 

 

 

👍👍👍👍👍

On 2022/12/26 at 11:52 AM, ToeKnee said:

Is it possible to clarify something:   The AUX function?    From what I can gather, it is a function that bypasses the Inverter, and can use the panels to power a Geyser (or 2) ?

I have 4.8kw Panels, Sunsynk 5.5kw Hybrid Inverter and 15kw (3x5) batteries.

I would like to put my Geysers - I have 2 - on a CBI Smartswitch and set the geysers to run (2KW each) once the SOC reaches 100% (circa 10am at current loads)

Am I correct in understanding, by using the AUX, if the load exceeds the 5KW at any time, it defaults to Battery/Grid to take the additional load?  

It is my first month with the system and I recently learnt from this forum how not to charge the Batteries using the grid at night    Hoping for the next step in optimisation

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 20233 yr by ToeKnee